Five Rhode Island lawmakers have issued a public rebuke of a letter from Rhode Island Statewide Coalition chairperson Harriet Lloyd. Lloyd's letter said that lawmakers who expressed dismay over the current trouble concerning the state and Curt Schilling's 38 Studios were being disingenuous and that their support for the Job Creation Guaranty Program gave the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation carte blanche to spend the $75 million given to the untested game company.

The letter signed by Sen. Dennis L. Algiere (R-Westerly), Rep. Samuel A. Azzinaro (D-Westerly) Rep. Brian Patrick Kennedy (D-Ashaway) Sen. Francis T. Maher Jr. (R-Exeter), and Rep. Donna M. Walsh (D-Charlestown) takes issue with those accusations and lays out why what happened with 38 Studios was never the way the program was supposed to work.

Lawmakers say that the Job Creation Guaranty Program would have never passed with bipartisan support in the legislature if lawmakers knew that the EDC would give out such a large loan to 38 Studios. The original intent of the bill was to put aside $125 million to be used to help a multitude of small businesses in the state, not just one company. Lawmakers argue that once the law was passed they had no control over how the money was allocated, and that if there is fault to be found it is with the EDC and its chairman in 2010, former Governor Donald L. Carcieri.

The statement closes with lawmakers saying that they are appalled at the actions of the EDC related to 38 Studios and that Rep. Walsh has already called for the legislature's Joint Committee on Economic Development to hold hearings on the EDC loan guarantee program as well as their tax credit program.

On a related note, GameSpot reports that sources close to the company claim that employees have not been paid since May 1, and that their health insurance is about to run out.

Comments

This reminds me of something I saw in Fahrenheit 9/11. During a segment where Michael Moore was interviewing Sen. John Conyers, Conyers admitted that none of his fellow Senators or Congressmen ever thoroughly read the bills they pass into law simply because they don't have the time. At most, they take a cursory read over it, never picking up on what most of them actually mean. In general, this is why our political system is such a clusterf@!k these days. And it looks like it's especially true in this case.

I wonder if this means that the agreement between RI and 38 Studios then could be considered null-and-void? If so, hopefully this could let them off the hook for repaying that loan.